Access to Water: A Human Right or a Human Need?

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Access to Water: A Human Right or a Human Need?
ISTANBUL, Turkey, March 27, 2009 (ENS) - Twenty countries have
officially challenged the Ministerial Declaration released Sunday at
the close of the week-long World Water Forum because it defines water
as a human need rather than as a human right.

Latin American states played a key role in gathering signatures on a
counter-declaration that recognizes access to water and sanitation as
a human right and commits to all necessary action for the progressive
implementation of this right.

Countries that signed the counter-declaration are: Bangladesh, Benin,
Bolivia, Chad, Chile, Cuba, Ecuador, Ethiopia, Guatemala, Honduras,
Morocco, Namibia, Niger, Panama, Paraguay, South Africa, Spain, Sri
Lanka, Uruguay and Venezuela. Switzerland has declared its support
although a formal signature is expected to take months to finalize.

The U.S. delegation, led by Daniel Reifsnyder, deputy assistant
secretary of state for environment and sustainable development, took
the position that "there is at present no internationally agreed right
to water or human right to water, and there is no consensus on what
such a right would encompass," according to State Department spokesman
Andy Laine.
Dan Reifsnyder has served in the State Department under both Bush
administrations. (Photo courtesy ENB)

The Ministerial Declaration was not open to negotiation at the World
Water Forum as negotiations on the statement were concluded at a
preparatory meeting held in Paris on March 3 and 4.

Laine told ENS that during the preparatory process the United States
did oppose language that would have recognized water as a human right.

"The United States does not oppose any government adopting a national
right to water or sanitation as part of its own domestic policy. We
do, however, have concerns with a statement that would require all
countries to adopt a national right to water or sanitation or would
establish an international right to water or sanitation," Laine said.

"Establishing an international right to anything raises a number of
complicated issues regarding the nature of that right, how that right
would be enforced, and which parties would bear responsibility for
ensuring these rights are met," said Laine. "To date, there have been
no formal intergovernmental discussions on these issues. It would
therefore be premature to agree to such a right."

Other governments supporting the principle of water as a human need,
rather than are human right, are Brazil, Canada, Egypt and the
European Union.

Nongovernmental organizations and the United Nations have mounted a
campaign to lobby governments to recognize water as a human right.

In Istanbul last Friday, Philipp Terhorst of Transnational Institute,
speaking for the European Water Network, criticized the recent EU
Parliament’s resolution that fails to recognize the human right to
water.

The Washington, DC-based NGO Food and Water Watch asked its members to
send emails to their Congressional representatives urging them to
support water as a human right. Their appeal counters the State
Department position, saying, "While it has been argued that there is
no international consensus on the existence of a right to water and
sanitation, such rights have been enshrined in two ministerial-level
declarations of the United Nations."
Maude Barlow (Photo credit unknown)

Maude Barlow, a Canadian national who serves as senior advisor on
water to UN General Assembly President Miguel D’Escoto, delivered a
statement from him in Istanbul. D’Escoto was clear, “Water is a public
trust, a common heritage of people and nature, and a fundamental human
right. ... We must challenge the notion that water is a commodity to
be bought and sold on the open market. Those who are committed to the
privatization of water ... are denying people a human right as basic
as the air we breathe.”

"We must work quickly to guarantee that access to drinking water
constitutes a fundamental right of all peoples," said D'Escoto.

The UN president also questioned the legitimacy of the forum itself.
His speech stated, "The forum's orientation is profoundly influenced
by private water companies. This is evident by the fact that both the
president of the World Water Council and the alternate president are
deeply involved with provision of private, for-profit, water
services."

He added that future forums should, "conduct their deliberations under
the auspices of the United Nations."

The Forum is staged by the World Water Council, a French-based
organization whose funding comes in part from the water industry.

Barlow, who is also the national chairperson of the Council of
Canadians, delivered the president's message to the People's Water
Forum, a counter-forum held by hundreds of civil society members from
nearly 70 countries whose voices have not been at the formal World
Water Forum. The speech was later released to the World Water Forum,
which was attended by 25,000 delegates from 150 countries.
At Jiftlik on the West Bank, Oxfam plans to build a reservoir
connected to this four inch-pipe to increase the amount of water
reaching the village's 800 households. (Photo by Sarah-Eve Hammond
courtesy Oxfam)

"This is a victory for all our groups who have been working for over
15 years for water to be recognized as a human right," said Barlow.

Pope Benedict XVI last July called for recognition of the right to
water. In his message to the international exposition on Water and
Sustainable Development Spain, the pontiff said, "The use of water,
which is regarded as a universal and inalienable right, is related to
the growing and urgent needs of people who live in destitution, taking
into account the fact that limited access to potable water has
repercussions on the wellbeing of an enormous number of people and is
often the cause of illnesses, sufferings, conflicts, poverty and even
death."

Some 880 million people do not have access to clean drinking water,
while 2.5 billion people do not have access to sanitation, the
Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development said in a
report last week.

The World Business Council for Sustainable Development, which
represented major corporations in Istanbul, said Thursday that the
linkages between water, energy and climate change, as well as their
connections with food were important topics of discussion at the Forum
and they must be addressed immediately.

"There was much more business representation, participation and
collaboration in Istanbul than at the previous World Water Forum in
Mexico in 2006, which is encouraging," said ITT Corporation's Björn
von Euler, WBCSD Water Project co-chair. "Now the time has come to
translate all this interest into action."

While avoiding the subject of water as a human right, business
spokespeople advised policymakers to integrate water, energy food and
climate change policies.

James Griffiths, managing director of water, forests and ecosystems at
the WBCSD, said, "It is time to link water, energy, food and climate
change in global climate negotiations, for governments and other
groups to engage with business and tap into its expertise; and for
public-private partnerships to be set up to solve some of the world's
most pressing water problems."

The Ministerial Declaration listed a set of non-binding
recommendations, including greater cooperation to ease disputes over
water, measures to address floods and water scarcity, better
management of resources and curbing pollution of rivers, lakes and
aquifers.

The World Water Forum is held every three years - the next meeting is
scheduled for 2012.

Copyright Environment News Service (ENS) 2009. All rights reserved.